My Hummingbird Neighbor

There is a big American Elm outside of my apartment window. The big green umbrella it forms covers almost half of the yard. During the summer, the big tree becomes a playground for the birds. From daybreak to dusk, birds, big or small, are chirping, jumping, and chasing among the branches and leaves.

Among them, I often see some hummingbirds. They sometimes visit the planted hanging baskets on my deck, suspend in the air like a helicopter, probe the long beak into a flower, and suck the sweet liquid. They are such fascinating little creatures, that always make me want to take some pictures.

But it's very difficult to approach such sort of alert bird. For many time, when seeing a hummingbird coming, I brought my camera out, and tried to move close to it with tipping toes... but before I focus and press the shutter, the little thing has already gone!

Once my cousin visited my home. I told her about the hummingbirds and my attempts. She said, "It looks like you have to build their trust little by little. Go and buy a hummingbird feeder". "What can I feed them?" "Simple. 20% sugar water".

OK. The next day I went to the Home Depot and bought one, filled with sugar water, and hanged it on my deck at a location easy to spot. Do the hummingbirds know it's food specially prepared for them?

One week passed, the water level in the feeder just dropped a little, perhaps due to evaporation. It seems the food was almost untouched. I was busy at work, and didn't check if there's any hummingbird came.

One day after two weeks, I saw a hummingbird circling around the feeder, and probing its long beak into the feeder. "Ha! Now he found the food finally!"

From then on, the consumption rate of sugar water increased quickly. The first bottle of sugar water was consumed in three weeks. But after a few weeks, I have to fill the feeder every three days. Also, the hummingbirds seemed get used to my existence--sometimes they just came to drink while I was watching them closely. Slowly, I could estimate the variation of hummingbird population by the amount of sugar water they consumed each week.

After a few weeks, I noticed that the food consumption rate suddenly dropped to around one bottle per week. What happened?

I started to observe the visiting hummingbirds more carefully, and study their interactions to each other. Then I found a big, red-headed hummingbird had claimed the feeder his own territory! Every morning he came early for food, then settled on a branch nearby, singing, and guarding the feeder. Once he saw other hummingbird approached, he would rush to the intruder with angry yelling "Cha!Cha!Cha!Cha!!!" Such sneak attacking and angry guarding kept happening, I often saw the red-head chasing another hummingbird, dashing into the leaves, like two F16 fighters. Soon just from the sound he made, I could distinguish whether the red-head was singing peacefully or was yelling angrily.

One hot summer afternoon, I saw three hummingbirds challenged the red-head together. At the beginning, one approached the feeder with a gesture of fetching the food. The red-head started attacking the intruder immediately, both birds rush away like two arrows. Then two other hummingbirds came to the unguarded feeder to enjoy the food. After a few seconds, red-head came back. Before he starting to sing the song of victory, he saw someone else were stealing the food again. Angry, he rushed to the new intruders. At the same time, the hummingbird who was chased away came back and joined. What a big fight! Sitting on the deck, I could only see four birds dashing up and down, and the only sound was the noise made by their wings.

After the fight, I bough another feeder and hanged it on another corner of my deck. I thought, "Red-head, if you do believe that feeder is yours, fine. Now this new one is for other hummingbirds. Please, share some food with your friends!" But a few days after, I saw that the red-head was guarding both feeders!

Oh, red-head, are you sure you want spend all your wonderful bird life to guard the sugar water, with the cost of losing friendship and the enjoyment of flying and singing together with other hummingbirds?

From then on, I stopped filling the feeders.